J. Matthew Thomas
Drop | Timber | crush
Drop / Timber / Crush
J. Matthew Thomas
2023
Drop, Timber, Crush is a site-responsive three-part series of installations created and installed at I-Park in November 2023. The work speaks to the area's natural resources and legacy of extraction, as well as the ongoing global commodification of our environment. The three elements, water, wood, and rock, are abundant throughout the I-Park Foundation.
*water
Located within the greater watershed of the Seven Mile River, a number of creeks, ponds and marshes flow through I-Park. Connecticut has abundant freshwater resources. It's one of the wettest states in the United States, receiving between 40 to 50 inches of rain every year (In contrast, the average annual precipitation for my home state of New Mexico is 13.85 inches).
*wood
Forests cover approximately 60% of Connecticut. Approximately 85% of Connecticut’s forests are over 61 years of age, and forests are Oak/Hickory and Maple/Beech/Birch groups, which make up about 84% of Connecticut’s forests. The annual Gross State Output of Connecticut’s forest products industry totals over $2.1 billion. Approximately 8,200 workers are employed in the forest products, maple and Christmas tree sectors.
*rock
The geological make up of this area is Gneiss and Schist Metamorphic Rock. The light-catching sparkling rocks are a schistose metamorphic rock with biotite (mica). Connecticut has 486 quarry jobs, which generate 2,267 statewide jobs. Quarry products include feldspar, quartz, and mica. Mica is sold to manufacturers of cosmetics, toothpaste, asphalt roofing, and spackling compounds.
Drop
Consisting of circular mirror pieces of varying sizes and is placed within an existing stagnant marsh. The levitating mirrors exaggerate water droplets and formation of the infrastructure of water in the area, creating an illusion of abundance while reflecting the environment around.
Timber
Levitating dimensional lumber is displayed below a circle of pine trees. Placed in parallel with each other, they lay in servitude, grave like, with mirrors reflecting the trees from which they came.
Crush
Just overlooking the old quarry on the property, a rock is revealed as an exploited object, commodified, made desirable as a product, bedazzled with 100’s of mirror pieces. The rock alludes to the native mica infused rocks while the mirrors mimic the voids found from the process of extraction.
